A new Nuvi

The Nuvi 765 adds 3D buildings, lane assist and Bluetooth on top of the standard feature set of Garmin car navigation units.

Build

The Nuvi 765 is actually one of the higher-end models in the Garmin Nuvi line and offers a Bluetooth handsfree connection to your mobile phone, junction view with lane assist and 3D buildings on the map.

These features aren’t new if you look at the other brands on the market, but it is new on a Garmin, which until this model, only supported junction view.

As far as handling goes, the Nuvi 765 is much the same as its other siblings — about the same size and shape (but heavier) and now comes with a non-slip coating on the back so it’s more secure when you’re holding it in your hand.

You also get a generous 4.3in LCD screen which is bright and easy to read even in bright light.

The biggest change is that the Nuvi 765 comes with an all new connector at the bottom and a new suction cup windshield mount, which means accessories meant for the lower-end models probably won’t work with the Nuvi 765.

The 3.5mm stereo minijack port is a hint of one of the new software features present in the Nuvi 765 — yes, it comes with a music player which supports MP3 files and Audible.com audio book files.

There is however, no video file support, so music is all that you’re going to get on this device.

Photo viewing is also carried over from the previous Nuvi devices and allows you to store JPEG photos on the device or in an SD card and view them on the Nuvi 765.

Last but not least, the Nuvi 765 comes with Bluetooth A2DP support, which means the GPS can also act as a speakerphone for your Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone.

Performance

As far as navigation goes, there are no surprises here — like all Nuvis, the interface is familiar, uncluttered and it works.

I quite like the Garmin interface as the icons are large and easy-to-understand and there’s no ­confusion when accessing the various features.

GPS lock was pretty quick at under a minute from cold start, and typically only a few seconds if you’ve turned it on recently.

There wasn’t any surprises for navigation either although in the time that I used it, there weren’t that many 3D buildings and junctions that I could see — some buildings, like the KLCC and major junctions were represented, but I find it still a little lacking compared with some other brands.

Airplane Abducted By UFO

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The airplane was approaching Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson Arizona at approximately 4:15PM MST on August 8th, 2009. We first witnessed the object hovering in a locked position, southwest of the base.

We thought it was a balloon, until it dropped in elevation a few thousand feet in less then a second. At that point I ran inside and grabbed my digital camera and rushed outside in time to catch the object approaching the airplane from behind. Unfortunately the microphone barely works on the camera, from being dropped so many times, so you can’t hear much. But at least there is a little. The object made no sound, completely silent.

There was an attempt to take the video to the media, unfortunately, every affiliate rejected the video due to lack of evidence. There was no report in the city of a missing airplane, nor did the Air Force Base report anything missing.

Many of the news affiliates did confirm that they had received calls on August 8th from various sources, claiming they had seen a UFO. They said that they receive calls on a regular basis dealing with UFOs all the time, as well as many hoax videos, and there was no reason to believe my video was anything different. They refused to believe that the Air Force base would withhold information about a missing airplane.

I’m hoping that more videos surface to confirm this object was real. We live within a mile of the base, so I don’t know how many people witnessed the event.

BigPond

Of all the 3G hardware on display this month, the BigPond USB modem is the most impressive. It’s also the biggest, but it’s eminently pocketable, and best of all there are no parts to lose.

We had no problem finding a signal in Sydney, but those on the fringes of BigPond’s coverage may be able to solve problems with the included accessories. A USB extension cable is included, plus an external antenna complete with Velcro pads to mount on your laptop’s LCD.

The BigPond application for managing your connection is easy to use. The software includes at-a-glance details of which operator you’re connected to (useful for international roaming), signal strength, and data sent and received during your current session.

Information such as connection speed and long-term data downloads, included with Vodafone and Optus’ software, isn’t shown, though, so you’ll have to visit your account on BigPond’s website for full information.

Unfortunately, BigPond’s data plans are the most expensive on test. BigPond is the only 3G provider to offer data plans larger than 7GB, but its 10GB plan is no substitute for a home broadband connection at a staggering $130 a month.

Even its modest plans are more expensive than most. Where most providers’ monthly charge for a 5GB cap is around $40, BigPond charges an astonishing $90 for just 3GB.

So what does that extra cash get? Apart from the hardware, BigPond claims it covers more of the population with its network, and our speed tests suggest BigPond is the best bet for those concerned with speed.

At the time of testing, BigPond and Optus were the only networks to have rolled out high-speed HSDPA across their 3G networks, with a theoretical maximum speed of 7.2Mb/s download.

In our speed tests, BigPond was the fastest: averaging over 4Mb/s in our download test. The fastest we saw was a shade over 5Mb/s, near enough to BigPond’s claim of a burst speed of 6Mb/s.